HPD crime lab workers quit over faulty testing vans

HPD crime lab workers quit over faulty mobile testing vans

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, July 28, 2011

A former HPD crime lab supervisor testified today that she and two other scientists quit because they could not trust the integrity of results from several mobile breath-testing vans.

Amanda Culbertson said problems with overheating in the Houston Police Department's six breath-alcohol-testing vans were well documented before she and the rest of the supervisors quit because they feared retaliation for their work overseeing officers and civilian breath testing technicians.

"We could no longer choose between a paycheck and our integrity," Culbertson said during a pretrial hearing in court-at-law judge Pam Derbyshire's court.

She and others worked to train technicians to keep air conditioning units on to regulate the temperature of the breath machine that measures blood alcohol levels in suspected drunken drivers. She also said an electrical glitch that was never fixed meant the sophisticated measuring machines would reset every time the van's air conditioner was turned on.

She said she supported the idea of a mobile testing site, but that HPD did not work to maintain the accuracy of the test results.

"In theory it's a great idea, but it depends on who is in charge of the environmental conditions," Culbertson said.

The admissions came after defense lawyers in a misdemeanor DWI case tried to have the evidence from the breath test suppressed in a hearing that began Wednesday.

After current HPD officials testified there were no problems with the equipment, attorneys Dane Johnson and Jordan Lewis handed Culbertson a subpoena while she was in the courthouse on another case.

The attorneys said Culbertson's admissions could affect dozens of DWI cases. She testified she was most concerned about cases filed during the spring and summer beginning in 2009.

Culbertson now works for another agency that oversees breathalyzers and testifies regularly.

Prosecutors asked for a continuance today after establishing, through testimony, that the Harris County District Attorney's was never notified of the alleged problems.

Officials with the district attorney's office declined to comment immediately after the hearing.

Johnson and Lewis said prosecutors asked that the case be rescheduled so they could investigate the allegations. The case is expected to resume testimony Aug. 15.